The Meaning of Family
by KayValo87
Summary: When something upsets Little Joe on his very first day of school, the rest of the Cartwrights are determined to find out what happened.


My boyfriend recently introduced me to a wonderful show called Bonanza. A couple dozen episodes later I typed up this one-shot.

I big thanks to Freya-Kendra for her support and fantastic beta work, you're awesome.

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't even own a car, much less the rights to Bonanaza. This story is purely for entertainment.

Enjoy ...

* * *

Little Joe nervously shuffled his feet, his eyes never leaving the dirt. This morning he had been so excited to go to school for the first time. He wanted to be as smart as Adam and make as many friends as Hoss. Now he hoped he would never go back, never face those boys again. But even they seemed as harmless as kittens compared to the grizzly bear he was standing before now.

"Joseph," his father's voice was firm. "I thought we talked about this."

"Yes Pa," he replied quietly.

"You promised to be good at school. Not get in any fights."

"Yes Pa."

"So what happened?"

Joe peeked under the brim of his hat to where his older brothers sat. Both in their teens, they helped around the ranch instead of going to school, and he was glad for it. Adam always got high marks in his studies, was even gonna go off to college soon, and Hoss had no shortage of friends at school. But that was before, back when kids were nicer. If they ever found out what he did … Well, he wasn't gonna let that happen. So, he raised his chin to look his father in the eye, hoping his voice sounded stronger than the jelly his legs had turned into.

"I can't say, Pa."

Ben Cartwright looked stunned at his statement, as did Adam and Hoss. Joe had never defied his father before and he hated to do so now. But he also knew what would happen if they knew the truth, how much hurt it would cause. So when his father crossed his arms and straightened his shoulders, it took everything in him not to cave right there.

"Now this is serious. I want you to tell me what happened that made you hit that boy."

"I can't say," Joe repeated, his gaze lowering as his father's hardened.

"Joe, If you don't tell me-"

"I'll take whatever you got, Pa," the five-year-old cut in. "But I can't say no more than that."

He didn't need to look up to know there was disappointment in Ben's eyes and he was grateful when he was sent to his room, even if it was without supper. Because he would never eat supper again if that's what it took. No matter what, he would never tell his family what Willy Dabney said. Never.

**P*O*N*D*E*R*O*S*A**

Ben sat at his desk and looked over his books, not taking any notice of the numbers. They had known something like this might happen, Little Joe had always had a short temper. That was why Ben had considered waiting another year or so before sending him off to school. However, Joe was determined to start at the same age his brothers did. But the thing that troubled the father most was that his boy wouldn't tell him what happened. None of the boys involved would, not to their teacher or their parents. But why? What was so bad that the whole lot had taken a vow of silence?

"I'm sure it's okay, Pa," Hoss offered.

"Yeah," Adam added, leaning against the edge of the desk. "You know how boys are."

"You mean how you two were," Ben smirked.

The boys dropped their eyes, but hardly looked ashamed. They both had gotten into their share of fights, Adam over his temper and Hoss over his size, but neither one had ever hidden it from him. Why now? Why Little Joe?

"You know, Pa," Adam started casually. "Hoss and I have to run into town tomorrow to order that new grass seed."

"Yeah," Hoss chimed in. "We could always drop by the school, check on Little Joe."

"You think he would tell you any more than he told me or his teacher?"

"He will if he doesn't know we're there," Adam smiled.

Ben couldn't help but smile back. His sons may be years apart in age, especially between the older two and Little Joe, but they were still close. He knew that Adam and Hoss worried about their brother, same as he did. If anyone could find out what was bothering Little Joe it was them. They would look after him; they always did.

**P*O*N*D*E*R*O*S*A**

Adam tied his horse outside the general store, waiting for Hoss to do the same. He looked toward the school house, as if he could see Little Joe through the walls. It bothered him that his youngest brother wouldn't tell them what had caused the fight that had sent him home early on his very first day of school. Adam himself hadn't done anything like that until his second or third year, and Hoss was nearly nine before he ran into trouble. What could have happened that was so bad his brother couldn't even tell them about it?

"Should we get the seed first or check on Little Joe?" Hoss questioned, pulling his attention from the school.

"He should be fine during the lessons," Adam reasoned. "We'll take care of the seed and come back at recess."

Hoss nodded, but looked like pretty close to how the oldest brother felt. He was just as worried as Adam and clearly wanted to check on Joe now. Joe was little more than a baby and someone had hurt him. They needed to know who it was, but more importantly, they needed to know why so they could make sure it didn't happen again.

"Come on," Adam sighed, nudging his brother's shoulder. "That seed won't order itself."

Hoss nodded and followed him inside. They placed the seed order and picked up a few things their father needed, loading up their saddle bags in record time. As soon as they were done, they hurried over to the school house just as the students headed into the yard for lunch. Ducking behind some bushes to stay out of sight, the brothers quickly spotted Little Joe sitting alone under a tree.

"Seems alright," Hoss whispered.

"Yeah," Adam agreed. "For now."

They watched for a few more minutes and though nothing happened Adam still had an uneasy feeling. Joe was quiet, looking around as if someone was about to jump out from behind a tree and snatch away his lunch pail. Was that what had happened yesterday? Whatever had happened, it was not going to happen again. Not if Adam had anything to say about it.

**P*O*N*D*E*R*O*S*A**

Hoss watched Little Joe eat, for once not thinking about the food. The five-year-old looked nervous, scared even, and whoever put that look in his eyes was going to have to answer to Hoss. He had always been big for his age and sometimes that bothered him, but not when someone went after one of his brothers. In those times his size was often enough to scare other boys off, and if that didn't work, being this big had other advantages.

"Hey, look there," Adam murmured.

Turning toward where his brother was pointing, Hoss saw a small band of boys heading to Little Joe's tree. Though they were all around half his age, they were nearly twice as big as his baby brother and looked a whole lot meaner. Hoss started to rise, but Adam held him back. Little Joe may have been alright on his own the day before, but there might have been less back then. He couldn't just sit by and let them gang up on the boy.

"Shouldn't we help him?"

"We don't even know how much trouble he is in," Adam whispered back. "If he is in trouble."

"There's four of them."

"And they've done nothing yet. Just give it a minute."

Though he didn't want to, Hoss kept low behind the bush. Still, if those boys tried anything against Little Joe there was definitely going to be trouble. Half his age or not, he would teach those kids why you shouldn't cross a Cartwright.

"Hey _Little_ Joe," one of the four sneered, stressing the first part of the nickname. "Did you bring your ox to town today?"

There was no more fear in his brother's eyes when he looked up. In fact, there was nothing in Joe's expression at all except anger. Pure, fiery rage. But why would a question like that bother him? Unless he was mad about the nickname, but he never said anything before. What was going on?

"You shut your mouth, Willy Dabney," Little Joe growled.

"Or what? You'll call your ox?"

"One more word and I'll knock your teeth out," the five-year-old spat, jumping to his feet.

"Face the truth, Cartwright," another boy scoffed. "You know we're right."

Hoss shared a look with Adam, but stayed silent. What were they talking about? And why had it got Little Joe so riled up? His baby brother was facing the older boys with fists clenched, looking as if he was willing and able to carry out his threat and then some. Never before had Hoss ever seen him so angry. But what were they talking about?

"You ain't right," Little Joe stated, emotion starting to creep into his voice. "I don't care what you say anyways."

"Yeah you do," Willy Dabney replied with a smirk. "All you have to do is look at him. Anyone can see that the big stupid ox ain't no Cartwright. Your Pa should have given him back to the freak show years ago. That's where he belongs."

Hoss caught his breath when he heard those words. He knew what this was about, why Little Joe had gotten into that fight; it was him. Sure he had heard it all before, and knew it wasn't true, but it still stung. What was worse though was that someone was using it against Little Joe. His brother didn't deserve that any more than he did, less in fact, and based on the look in Adam's eye he wasn't the only one to think that way.

"Hey!" Adam barked, stepping from their hiding place.

The four boys scattered and left Little Joe standing there with his fists still raised. When Hoss moved to follow, his younger brother paled and rushed toward him, grabbing him by the vest. What was he-

"It ain't true," he said rapidly, tears filling his eyes. "You ARE a Cartwright and I don't care where you came from. You ARE my brother, just like Adam. You ARE a Cartwright no matter what. Don't listen to them, they're wrong. You ARE my brother. You ARE!"

Not knowing what to say, Hoss pulled Little Joe into a hug as the boy started to cry. That was why he hadn't said anything before. It wasn't what the boys said, it was the fact that he believed them. Little Joe thought that they weren't really brothers.

**P*O*N*D*E*R*O*S*A**

Joe sat on his bed, hugging his pillow to his chest. Hoss and Adam had brought him straight home after they showed up at school, but none of them had said a word on the way back. As soon as they got home, Adam went to find Pa and Joe ran to his room. He couldn't face Hoss again, not after he heard what Willy and the others had said. He hadn't wanted his brother to find out that way … but maybe he had already known. Anyway, it didn't matter. Joe didn't care if Hoss did come from a freak show. He was his brother, a Cartwright, just like Adam and nobody could make Joe love him any less.

"Little Joe?"

Tensing at the sound of his father's voice, he slowly turned toward the door, but his heart sank when he saw his two brothers were there too. He had already told Hoss he didn't care where he came from, why did they have to bring it up again?

"Little buddy, we need to talk to you," Adam prodded, bracing his hands on the foot-board of the bed.

"Got nothing to say," Joe sniffed. "Said my peace already."

"But you don't got the truth yet," Hoss said gently, taking a seat next to him.

"I know the truth," Joe replied, burying his face in his pillow. "Willy told me."

"Dang it, Little Joe," Adam snapped. "Willy Dabney is nothing but a snake!"

"Adam," the father chided softly, taking position closer to his youngest. "Little Joe, I want you to look at me."

Rubbing his face against the pillow to erase what tears he could, the five-year-old lifted his head. Ben gave him a gentle smile, placing a hand on his arm.

"Willy Dabney lied," he stated firmly. "Hoss is no less my son than you or Adam."

"But … but he looks so different," Joe sniffed. "I don't care, honest I don't! But … he don't look like us."

"Ah, that's just 'cause I had a different Ma," Hoss explained. "I look more like her, that's all."

Joe thought about this for a minute. It would make sense, if their mothers were different they would look different. No, that still didn't make sense.

"But you don't look like Adam," he said, trying not to sound accusing. "I do."

"Luck of the draw, little brother," Adam replied, mussing up his hair. "I had a different Ma too."

"You all did," Ben finished. "But you all have one Pa and I don't love any of you more or less than the others. That's what family means, being there for each other no matter our differences, and I want you all to remember that. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Adam and Hoss said in unison.

"Little Joe?"

"Yes Pa."

Ben nodded and rose to his feet, reminding the boys that supper was going to be ready soon before he left the room. For a moment after that no one moved, no one spoke. Joe just kept replaying his father's words in his head, letting them erase all the cruel things- no, the cruel lies that Willy Dabney had said. Boy, was he gonna get it when Joe got to school. He was gonna set them all straight and no one would ever talk about his brother like that again, unless they wanted to be doing it with busted lips.

"Little Joe?" Adam's voice broke the silence.

"Yeah?"

"You know if you ever have trouble with anyone, you can tell us right?"

"I know," he mumbled. "I was just … I didn't want to make Hoss sad."

"You know what made me sad?" Hoss asked, wrapping an arm around his tiny shoulders. "That my little brother didn't come to me when he had trouble."

"But what about all those things they said?" Joe wondered. "Didn't that make you sad?"

"Nah, I knew they was lying. But it made me pretty mad that they said those things to you."

"Him and me both," Adam chimed in bitterly. "Promise that next time you'll tell one of us or at least talk to Pa?"

"I promise."

Hoss gave him a hug that soon turned into a tickle attack. Adam joined in as the five-year-old tried to squirm away, attempting to tickle his older brothers back until their father called them down to dinner. Not wanting to upset him, the three boys rushed off to wash up and raced to the dinner table where Ben was already waiting. And as they said grace, Joe sent up a silent prayer of thanks for each member of his family, different as they were. Because he knew they would always be there for him, just as he would be there for them. After all, that's what family means.

* * *

So, what do you think?

Let me know if you would like to see any more one-shots. I have a few multi-chapter ideas, but want to wait until I get a few other stories finished first. (Yes Monkeymuse, "Cat's Eye" is one of them.)


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